| August 2002 Newsletter |
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At Least Ten Seconds Faster Than a Bull
Courtney Campbell was racing through cow pastures Saturday at the 14th annual Finger Lakes Trail Fifties, held in the Finger Lakes National Forest in Hector, when the surroundings triggered a memory.
"A farmer once put a sign on his fence that read: "My bull runs 10 seconds faster than you do!" said the national-class ultra runner from Berryville, Va. Then he laughed.
The cows were sitting down, and the bull was hiding as the runners passed through the pasture gates. But no man or beast could have outrun the 37-year-old Campbell, who won the 50-mile trail ultra in 7 hours, 3 minutes, 37 seconds - a new course record by over 45 minutes. (Greg Loomis, a native of Campbell, N.Y., held the existing record of 7:48:32, set in 1999.)
Beginning and ending at the Potomac Campsite, with breezy and cool temperatures, the 50-mile runners completed an initial 15.6-mile loop, plus two 15.5-mile loops and a final 3.4-mile "baby" loop. The 50K entrants circled the rugged course - which passed through pastures, around ponds, through pine forests, up and down dirt roads and along winding trails - twice; the 25K racers circled just one loop. In total, roughly 80 runners completed one of the three races.
"I went 2 hours, 2 minutes for the first lap; 2:05 for the second lap, and 2:24 for the third lap - and that third lap just killed me," said Campbell, a high school math teacher and track coach. "I wanted to break seven hours, but the course is deceptively hard. The rough ground in the pastures really wipe you out, because although it's flat, you can't really run fast on it. And there was lots of gradual uphills that ate me up. I really like to fly downhill on rough trails, but there wasn't much of that.
"But the race was fun, because during the second and third loops, I'd lap runners and they'd say hi, and cheer me on.," he said. "It's a race with everything: grass, dirt, gravel - but no cows came close."
Campbell is well-known and respected on the east coast for his multiple victories at such big-time trail ultras as the JFK 50-miler (Maryland); the Old Dominion 100 (Virginia); the Vermont 100, Massanutten 100, Mountain Masochist 100 and the Mohican 100. He's the third elite-level ultra runner to set foot on the Finger Lakes National Forest stomping grounds.
Last year, world -class mountain and 100K U.S. team runner, Nikki Kimball of Elizabethtown, N.Y., won the 50-miler outright. In September, Monica Scholz of Ontario, Canada, won the KISS 100-miler outright, and later set a world record for most 100 milers completed in one year.
"I found out about this race Wednesday on the Internet, and thought, 'Hey, I've never been to New York state to run a race before," said Campbell, in his southern drawl . " So, I thought I'd just come on up."
Don Villeneuve, 62, of Buchanan, N.Y., was second in the 50-miler in 9:21:21; 49-year-old Al Catalano, of Lynn, Mass., was third in 9:53:25.
"If you put your mind to it, you can do whatever you want," said the senior Villeneuve, bound for the Vermont 100 in two weeks. "Just keep on going - one foot in front of the other."
The women's 50-mile race was won by Michele Wolfe, 47, of Niantic, Conn., who finished in 11:20:30. Kimberly Walsh, 36, of Attleboro, Mass., was runner-up in 12:02:ll.
In the 50K (31 miles) race, 26-year-old Ben Nephew of Boston won the overall title in 3:56:21, breaking Mark Stuart's course record of 4:12:16, set in 2001. Ed Helbrick, 37, of Elysburg, Pa., was second in 4:56:17, and 50-year-old Robin Fry of Ashland, Ohio, was third - and first masters - in 5:24:39.
"I ran with Courtney for a while, but he had another 19 miles to go, so he dropped off after 20 minutes or so," said Nephew, a graduate student in stress physiology at Tufts University. "I was on my own, and that's tough because you never have assurance you're on the right trail. And, in hindsight, maybe I ran too quickly the first loop. But, I felt alright."
Katie Danner, 28, of Alpine won the 50K women's title in 5:51:03. Christine Beach, 32, of Interlaken was second in 6:16:39, and Ithaca's Tess DuMont, 32, was third in 6:19:54.
The ultra rookie Danner, a mother of four, has been pounding out mega-mileage, training runs on Schuyler County trails.
"I didn't plan on winning, I just planned on finishing under six hours," said Danner, who was running to honor a friend who is battling multiple sclerosis. "When I came through on the first loop, my brain was screaming, 'There's the finish; go back!' But I kept going. This was 10 times more fun than any marathon I've done - but harder. But I kept thinking of my friend and her fight the whole way."
In the 25K race, John Hylas, 45, of Ithaca originally was declared the winner in 1:43:00, with Moravia's Alan Lockett, 43, second in 1:54:48. Magnus Hjortstam, 39, of Sweden claimed the third position in 2:06:16. But after getting lost, both Hylas and Lockett realized their finishing times were too fast to be accurate.
Hylas, Lockett annd Hjortstam (who was following the lead pair) unintentionally ran off course, and shortened their route to the finish. Following post-race deliberation by the FLRC executive board, those three men have been disqualified. Their results will not count, or be tallied in the Stonehead rankings.
Ben Behun, 26, of Olean has been declared the 25K winner in 2:10:07. See the enclosed results for further details. All other times listed stand as correct.
The women's 25K race was won by 26-year-old Stephanie Nephew of Boston - the men's 50K winner's wife - in 2:24:21. Audrey Balander, 45, of Cortland placed second in 2:25:02, and Amber Muirhead, 26, of Ithaca was third in 2:42:33.
One of the happiest Twin Tiers runners was Corey West of Pine Valley, who finished his first 50-miler in 10:21:07. The 26-year-old ultra road cyclist finished his first 50K at the Fifties in 2000, and this time practiced the same training plan: Virtually little mileage, but mind over matter.
"I've always wanted to run 50 miles, and expected it would take about 12 hours. So I'm really happy," said West, surrounded by friends and family who kept the 10-hour vigil. "I didn't get chased by a cow, but I almost got attacked by a wild goose who honked at me by the pond. I thought it was going to get me, and I couldn't have outrun it. It was pretty intense!"
-- Diane Sherrer
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